Russell Pearce's Vanquisher Jerry Lewis Slimed by Democrats

Here's proof positive that Democrats can be just as scummy as Republicans.

I mean this hit piece mailed out to folks in Legislative District 26, declaring that state Senator Jerry Lewis, the man who took on former state Senate President Russell Pearce, the biggest bigot in this state, and defeated him, is a "Tea Party puppet."

Almost all of the cretinous thugs fighting against Lewis in the 2011 LD 18 recall race were Tea Party members. The plot to recruit sham candidate Olivia Cortes was hatched after a Tea Party meeting.

Pearce was (and is) their god, Lewis their sworn enemy. I do not exaggerate by much to say that if the Tea Partiers could have gotten away with lynching Lewis from the highest light pole in Mesa, they would have done so.

And yet, here is Lewis, portrayed as a marionette, along with two other Rs, who are running for the state House in redrawn LD 26, where Lewis is campaigning to remain in the state Senate.

As you can see for yourself, the text labels all three candidates as "endorsing Russell Pearce."

I don't know about those other two candidates, but I don't think Lewis will be playing Putt-Putt with Russ anytime soon.

The mailer was paid for by Democratic state House candidates Juan Mendez and Andrew Sherwood, and state Senate candidate Ed Ableser, who currently represents Tempe in the state House.

It's like Mr. Lewis teabagged our very own "journalist" Mr. Lemons and he liked it so much there was a "turn" - Please come out of the closet Mr. Lemons - it's soooo dark in there. BTW - Compare Mr. Lewis' votes with those of the teabaggers in the Senate and you will come to the same conclusion - a "nice guy" who votes for the Teabaggers agenda is STILL A TEABAGGER!!!!!

Okay, year after year I heard Mr. Lemons complaining about the Democrats not being able to exercise control over the increasingly rabid right wing in this State's legislature. Here's a guy, Senate candidate Ed Ableser, which is clearly a member of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party stating a FACT in his co-op ad (Lewis DOES VOTE for the Tea Party Republican Agenda and his votes bare this out), an ad with BACKBONE, and Mr. Lemons immediately does a 180 and starts to criticize the ad as too harsh? WTF!!!!It's time for the same thing that Lemons has criticized Dems for - GROW A PAIR!

Eddie Ableser, you should be ashamed of yourself. If I were in your district, I would vote for Jerry Lewis, even though I am a liberal Democrat. If you cannot win on your merits you don't deserve to be in office. And by the way, your support for Tort Deform shows your ignorance.

I am as far from a repub let alone a right winger as is possible, but these allegations are distasteful and seem grossly inaccurate.

reasonable people can disagree with each other as to the direction of the country, but this character assassination is unwarranted. If you cannot beat the man with ideas, (as he did Russell) then so be it.

Again, I have only read that Lewis is a decent guy that has different politics to me....It happens.

All right you guys, I mean the Three Mouseketeers: Knock off the shit right now. Sen. Ableser, you can work on your dissertation on your time. Now, when a vote is taken on who will be State Senate president, I want you to lobby and vote for Jerry Lewis (that, of course, assumes that you will be re-elected). Yes, he's a conservative Republican but also from everything I've heard, a helluva nice and charitable guy. It most unfortunate that he's had to take crap from his own partisans and he doesn't need any more from you. I expect that you will do all you can to work with him on things the two of you agree on and that really matter, but at the same time speaking out against the kind of insane legislation proposed by the tinfoil-hat wearers on the other side of the aisle. As for Messrs. Mendez and Sherwood, the same thing applies. Do your best to instill a spirit of cooperation in the House of Representatives but vigorously oppose anything that would smack of discrimination against Hispanics, women and the GLBT community. And all of you: show up for scheduled votes above all. The TeaThuglicans are in firm control of the Legislature and it is up to you to step up and vigorously speak to our issues and concerns. Dems will have no chance of capturing the Legislature in the future if they are associated with the kind of gutter politics exemplified in the flyer shown above. Ten-hut! Forward, MARCH! Oh yeah, I was thinking of calling you the 3 Stooges, but no.

No one doubts that Jerry Lewis was courageous in standing up and challenging Russell Pearce and his goons, but what counts now is his record in the Senate since being elected. Let’s look at Sen. Lewis’ record since arriving in the Senate: he voted with the Tea Party wing of his party to cut KidsCare (SB1619), to cut $350 Million in education spending (SB1617), he voted with the right wing of his party to tell the UN that global warming is an international conspiracy (SB1057), he opposed Prop 204 (education funding) and he voted for the 20 week abortion ban. Yes, Jerry Lewis did every Arizonan a service by ridding our state of Russell Pearce’s leadership, but what matters most now is his record and that record is not in line with the views of the new LD26. The views and positions of Ed Ableser, Juan Mendez and Andrew Sherwood are in line with LD26 and we need them in the legislature. Jerry Lewis doesn’t deserve a permanent seat in the legislature just because he defeated Russell Pearce, which by the way he never would have been able to do if it not for the amazing volunteers that worked day in and day out to recall Pearce in the first place. Jerry Lewis is a nice guy, but I prefer leaders that will stand up and fight the Tea Party agenda. By the way I also happen to know Ed, Juan and Andrew and they’re all pretty nice too.

Lemons and a lot of people commenting need to learn some basic facts about how politics and legislatures work before opining. When you elect someone you are electing the party they caucus with. Which means that nice "moderate" Jerry Lewis is going to vote with his party at least 80% of the time, for the Republican agenda of tax cuts, cuts to education and health care, privatization, crony capitalism, inaction on climate change, attacks on women's freedom, etc. You are also voting for who controls committees and what bills get heard. Jerry Lewis winning what was previously a Dem Senate seat makes for a larger GOP majority. How is that a positive thing?

@arizonaeagletarian You sure carried on when Cherny put out smear ads and I agreed with you. Now-its not an issue?

Lewis never endorsed Pearce and that is exactly what this ad is trying to say he did.

He's the Tea Party's most hated republican in Az. and the Tea Party senators would've put Lewis's desk in the parking lot of the Capitol if they could've gotten away with it. Thats simply a fact you seem determined to ignore, perhaps in convincing yourself this flyer is somehow fair..

Laurie Roberts now has proof when she says the KOOKS are in both parties and that seems crystal clear to everyone but the KOOKS. Accept reality. The flyer is wrong.

@MasCafePlease Stephen Lemons leaves ALL pretense of journalistic integrity and objectivity far behind on this one. Lemons overwhelmingly exaggerated his criticism of Ableser but did NOT ONE BIT of analysis of Jerry Lewis' conduct (votes) as a senator representing Mesa (the old LD26). In fact, Jerry Lewis, on his campaign facebook page declared that he is the incumbent senator from LD26 (Tempe/West Mesa) that is a direct, misrepresentation of the facts of the situation.

If you are, in fact, a liberal Democrat, then you would NOT be represented AT ALL by Jerry Lewis in how he conducted himself as an elected lawmaker.

@sggrange Lewis IS a decent guy. But he also IS, in the Arizona Senate, a TEA PARTY senator. The ONLY difference between him and Russell Pearce is that Lewis is a friendly, warm individual. He voted in agreement with Cathi Herrod's agenda (more than a dozen bills, largely moving Arizona further toward fascism) on all but one.

The FALSE allegations contained in THIS story by Stephen Lemons are the allegations, GREATLY exaggerated, made against Ableser.

Yes, Ableser did miss votes. Lewis, on the other hand, voted TEA PARTY almost completely. There were NO votes of consequence that the senate republican caucus allowed Jerry Lewis to vote contrary to their direction in the 2012 regular session.

Stephen Lemons is the one who should be shamed AND ashamed of himself with this tripe.

@eric.nelson745 Ed and Jerry cannot serve together; they are running against each other. Ed is a progressive Democrat; Jerry is a conservative Republican. The new Legislative District 26 encompasses Tempe, which Ed has served nobly for 6 years as our state representative, and West Mesa, which Jerry has served for <1 year.

Jerry, by the way, claims on his FB Public Figure page to be the Senator from LD26. Untrue. He is the Senator from LD 18. He is running to be the Senator from LD26. He also states he is serving Tempe and Mesa. Untrue. He is serving Mesa only. I notified him of this error/misrepresentation, but he unfriended me. Sad. I worked hard in the Recall Pearce Effort.

It is disappointing to see Jerry Lewis capitulate to his tea-Party brethren in the Legislature. I thought he would be more independent that that.

No matter how you slice it, his extreme votes on education and women's health care do not represent the values of the Democratic District 26.

ItsADryHate: Please take a deep breath, check your grammar and spelling, and quit the hate talk.

@richietaylor Seriously. Check your facts. Lewis wasn't even in the legislature when KidsCare was cut. STOP SAYING HE DID IT. Lewis is stopped further cuts, and helped begin the process of restoring funding to education.

@donnagratehouse This has NOTHING to do with electing anyone Donna. This has to do with dirty and dishonest campaigning. I'm all for attacking a candidates character (especially a republican) if their character deserves it. But it's Ableser, Sherwood and Mendez character I have to question now.

Ableser could've and should've won this race. This will hurt him and it should.

@donnagratehouse That's funny, because the Tea Party constantly whines that Lewis "votes 78% of the time with the Democrats." Also, you fail to acknowledge the fact that Lewis will be a deciding vote for who is the Senate President--which is who controls the entire agenda running through the chamber. Lewis will keep the state on task. You are just a partisan who votes straight ticket.

@dennis20@arizonaeagletarian It's his voting record that is being challenged, Dennis. There have been no character attacks (except against Ed). Here is further evidence of Jerry's movement to to appease the right wing elements of his party:

He voted WITH the tea baggers on ALL votes of consequence. He was ALLOWED by his caucus to vote contrary on a bill or two when they didn't need GOP votes to pass, so he could con constituents in THIS election.

@ItsaDryHATE If by "hack" you mean "someone who can articulate a set of principles on a wide range of policy issues and can outline policy preferences that ensue from them and votes for candidates from the party that better represents her well-researched views on education, health care, equality, social justice, the environment, foreign policy, etc." then, yes, I am a hack. And I'd much rather be a hack than a lazy know-nothing who spouts cliches about "both sides" and thinks it makes him look insightful.

@TylerMontague Look, I'm not one of the rubes you're trying to pass Lewis off as a moderate to, so go peddle it elsewhere. I've examined his voting record and what bills he has sponsored. Lewis votes like a Republican.

Why don't you put his entire voting record on reproductive issues on his website so voters in LD26 can see how "moderate" he really is on them?

@ItsaDryHATE@richietaylor I did NOT forget to read that part. He STILL voted WITH THE TEA PARTY on it. He is not absolved in the event a bill he voted FOR fails. Similarly, he does NOT get credit for voting against a tea party bill if that bill passes anyway, The reason he does NOT get a pass on H2625 is because he was allowed to vote against it so that he could get fools like you to believe he is not a tea bagger. And you can bet that is THE reason he was allowed to vote that way on ANY vote of consequence.

@TylerMontague@ItsaDryHATE Ableser can improve his attendance record easily. I don't have much confidence for Lewis having an epiphany and changing his voting habits on culture war and economic issues.

@donnagratehouse@ItsaDryHATE Well said. It's just that one shouldn't lie about Lewis to achieve victory, as Ableser has done here. And such behavior is in and of itself an act that disqualifies Ableser from office. That and his 60% voting record.

@ItsaDryHATE This strawman is getting really tiresome. One can appreciate Jerry Lewis defeating Pearce in the recall and also believe that he's not suitable to represent LD26 in the Senate. Those are not mutually exclusive concepts. Try a more logical argument next time.

@donnagratehouse@TylerMontague Donna, You and I agree on issues. The issues are what should matter. This flyer is wrong. There is no need to attack Lewis for things he's never done or his character unless you have evidence these is something wrong with it. .

Post Lewis's voting record. I agree that is important but this flyer doesn't do that. Is Lewis a member of ALEC?

Last time I checked-he wasn't.

That may change. I don't know but it speaks volumes.

What this flyer shows me is what I suspected when I visited the office in Tempe and tried to film Carmona. There is something wrong going on there. Dems need to get it together.